CliffsNotes for Climate Change

Looking to brush up on your climate change economics so you can argue with your friends and loved ones? Need a new website to read when you should be doing something else? Well, if you ask, the intertubes shall provide. Welcome RealClimateEconomics to the world of electronic information sharing. The site, run by Ecotrust and the E3 Network, is a clearinghouse of recent climate econ-related journal abstracts. To quote the site itself:

As the climate policy debate intensifies, economic analysis is playing an increasingly central role. The case for inaction is no longer argued on the grounds of skepticism about the science; instead, some have claimed that it will be too expensive to take more than token initiatives. While some economists still claim that it is too expensive to take more than small, gradual steps to reduce emissions at present, there is now extensive economic analysis that challenges and refutes the go-slow theory.

The articles collected on this website demonstrate that there is rigorous economic support for immediate, large-scale policy responses. The economics literature justifies immediate action to minimize the risks of climate change.

So, apparently they are not so keen on obtaining an unbiased sample of the literature. Even so, they already have a pretty solid collection of abstracts across nine different focus areas, including model reviews, uncertainty, and costs of mitgation/adaptation. One downside: no access to the actual journal articles. They’re still young though, so give them a chance. We’ll give them a try, so it’s been added to the Blogroll.